#ep. echoes

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Defiant One, Pt. 3

They reach the crashed hive ship. The whole way, they walk in two pairs. McKay does not leave Sheppard's side. And it's not (certainly not predominately) because he's looking for protection from Sheppard, it's just that it's where he wants to be. Walking and standing next to the Major.

If in the several previous episodes Sheppard was the one drawn to McKay, now it is very clearly Rodney that is being drawn to him. And once more they are creating their own insulated universe even when they are with other people.

Sheppard still seems to explain to McKay why to do things, he's not giving commands or orders. But McKay obliges him easily even when he doesn't personally see the usefulness of something. And Sheppard is still teaching him about military protocol, especially about it being better to be safe than sorry.

He can't hide that he's actually excited to be on this mission with Rodney as he turns to him and says: "Good! Let's go take a look."

The whole time Sheppard really seems to be talking only to McKay, not to all three of them. He doesn't really even react to the others or their comments. And he smiles to Rodney for the second time in very short order, and very obviously to Rodney alone.

They are like two giddy school boys on an adventure.

Entering the hive, they have perfect trust in each other. McKay trusts that Sheppard is going to keep him safe and Sheppard trusts that McKay will be able to warn him of potential dangers.

Rodney gets a little too close to him switching open his flash light, and Sheppard first makes to pull away but then pushes himself back toward him (he actually reacts to McKay drawing in a breath, before he's even had time to move, that's how attuned he is to McKay's physical presence). He both wants to keep the distance and he wants to get close. Outside, Dr. Gaul tells Dr. Abrams something that Sheppard might as well have just been telling himself: "Look, I know how you feel, but how many opportunities like this are we gonna get?"

The two pairs are contrasted. Abrams and Gaul have to verbally have a conversation that Sheppard and McKay don't even need to have, because they're automatically on the same page about this.

Also, where previously, before the Genii siege, we saw Sheppard constantly looking at McKay, here it's McKay that keeps looking at and to Sheppard. He's looking for confirmation, he's looking for reassurance, he's looking for guidance. Sheppard doesn't really look at McKay except to answer his half verbalized question ("It is..?") with a look. This shows us, again, how by now they know each other so well that they don't need actual words to communicate, they can have entire conversations just through looks and expressions. At this time, Sheppard doesn't look at McKay. In fact, there are a few times he seems to catch himself and tries to purposefully not look at the other man. But, like back in the jumper, they end up working terribly, terribly close:

They figure out that the hive was a wraith supply ship, coming across where a storage of human bodies used to be. It's interesting how Sheppard tells Abrams and Gaul what to do ("Gaul, Abrams, check it out, but be careful"; it's also pretty obvious that everything so far that he didn't precede with their actual names he has been saying to Rodney alone). He does not tell McKay what to do but instead, just assumes that the other man is going to accompany him to the ship's bridge, again using 'we' pronouns ("Maybe we can get some useful intel"; "We'll stay in radio contact"). He's speaking for the both of them but at no point does he tell McKay what to do. They're just... working as one.

Sheppard literally only gives McKay this quick look which is enough for McKay to understand his whole plan:

In fact, these kind of really quick glances seem to be the only ones he's able to give McKay at this time. Like if he does it real fast, it doesn't count.

It's notable that he clearly wants to keep McKay near him when splitting them up some other way would have made more sense as Gaul and Abrams have zero field experience, and McKay was just taking samples so leaving him to take samples e.g., with Abrams would have been the reasonable thing to do. But he's not being reasonable -- given the events of the past few episodes, he's not letting McKay out of his sight when there's potential danger. Not until there's actual danger, and it becomes better to leave him in a safe place.

It's also telling how, now that they're in a real situation, Dr. Gaul seems to be freaking out, doesn't want to be left behind by the Major, barely containing his "girlish fear" where McKay genuinely does not seem to fear anything, at least as long as Sheppard is with him. He tells Gaul "What's the problem? They're all dead." It just does not occur to him to fear anything, not when Sheppard is there. He runs after Sheppard having rubbed this in Gaul's face a little, but the skip in his step tells us that he's not doing it because he's feeling fear with Sheppard having gone ahead, but because he just wants to be with Sheppard that much. He wants to catch up.

But on the other side of the coin, Sheppard actually turns and walks backwards like his body just decided that a few yards was further than it wanted to be from McKay:

With no evidence to the contrary, I'm going to go on a limb and assume that this is the first time they have been alone together since before the Genii siege (let's just count the moment they had in Rodney's lab as a private moment, even though Weir was there; they definitely both seemed to forget she was there for a moment).

They immediately fall into rhythm: McKay is able to explain the science to Sheppard but Sheppard is quick in thinking things that McKay does not think to think. Working together, it takes them like five seconds to come to the conclusion that they might actually have a live wraith in the hive with them. They complement each other.

They started finishing each other's sentences back in Underground (S01E07). But now it's like, they don't even have to use whole sentences. They understand each other from half a word, never mind they seem to be able to do without words altogether. Twice now in this episode, Sheppard has only said McKay's name, and he perfectly understood his meaning. Given that in the episode, we have been told about the difficulty of radio communication three times by this point, it's really rather telling. They are communicating on so many different levels.

There is a marked difference in how they are alone together. McKay is talking in an excited, animated way where Sheppard lets his guard down, asking McKay really rather poignant questions rather than pretending he has all the answers or that he's in control. There is not a hint of any kind of bickering or bantering going on, they are both just so nakedly themselves.

There's a contrast in how Sheppard is being extra military with Dr. Gaul, I guess because the way he treated McKay earlier annoyed him. He's using military parlance ("Get a DV and a rough head count"; "Let's fall back to our point of ingress"). He has never done this with Rodney and actually seems to not even want him to do that. We see later, a bunch of times, McKay wanting to learn military slang and hand signs and Sheppard just... isn't having it.

It's not like knowing these things wouldn't be useful on missions. It's not like he shouldn't be teaching them to Rodney himself. He just... likes Rodney the way he is and doesn't want to see him becoming someone else. And probably also doesn't like to be reminded that McKay is technically (Cf. Harmony, S04E14) serving under him which, in Sheppard's mind, puts him in the danger zone.

The heroes that they are, they run toward danger together. Abrams, unfortunately, is the first to go. Before they go after Gaul, captured by the wraith, two things happen. Sheppard makes sure that McKay has extra protection (and, well, weapons are phallic symbols, so there's that; they're handling a weapon together):

And he alleviates the guilt McKay is feeling, believing it's his fault Abrams died:

McKay: I swear there was nothing alive when I scanned for life-signs. Sheppard: They don't show up as life-signs when they're hibernating. OK, let's go! [= it wasn't your fault, we couldn't have known]

Sheppard is teaching McKay pretty much all throughout this episode. It's starts with the flying lesson, ends with the shooting lesson, but there are small lessons scattered throughout. They run across some wraith weapons and while neither of them know what they are, precisely, he's teaching McKay strategy:

McKay: What's that? Sheppard: I don't know, but I don't have the ordnance I should have. It takes a lot to kill these guys -- I'll take any edge I can get.

Rodney McKay is an exceptionally intelligent individual. This is a source of pride for him to the point of arrogance. And yet he's not just willing to learn from Sheppard, he is eager. Just like Sheppard has been willing and eager to learn from McKay, as we saw in the previous episode where he displayed an understanding of engineering that could have resulted only from keenly observing the other man work. And no matter how tense the situation gets, Sheppard doesn't stop teaching him things that he hopes will serve to protect McKay, to keep him alive:

Sheppard: OK. Stay behind me. Shoot only when I tell you to shoot.

As it turns out, the fact that they stopped for this particular lesson cost Dr. Gaul several decades of his life-force. They find him cocooned by the wraith. This is when the weight of the events of the past few episodes suddenly come crashing down on the shoulders of John Sheppard.

Continued in Pt. 4

[mroddmod]

everyone be quiet i'm manifesting

[gayjedicoded]

hey babe new personality chart just dropped

[leavingkamino]

STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH 2.12 "The Outpost | 3.05 "The Return"

[helimir]

Some top tier Caduceus quotes I've been thinking about in these Downfall times. Something about how so much of Ludinus' position seems to rest on revenge. Showing Bells Hells the squabbling of the gods as they debate what to do about Aeor, and asking 'You can just watch bad people get away with it?'

It doesn't matter if the gods were wrong for their choices. Killing them won't bring back Aeor and it won't stop the violence that Ludinus and the Ruby Vanguard have visited on the world. I just don't see what it's for.

[sing-geronimo]

shoutout my favorite evangelion episode

[the-bi-space-ace]

Echo and Crosshair have such a fun relationship to pick apart. They are both filled with this stubbornness and indignation. They are clever and funny, each in their own ways. They have strong convictions and aren’t quick to let go of their own perspectives especially when confronted with push back. Trust is so intertwined with both of their characters.

Imagine the sassy side eye looks they give each other when someone says Some Shit. Imagine the way they bicker with each other over really tiny things. Yet if someone were to say something nasty about the other there would be hell to pay.

Just Echo and Crosshair and the endless possibilities about what their relationship could’ve looked like.

[elizadushkudaily]

ELIZA DUSHKU in Dollhouse | 1.00 "Echo" ↳ CELEBRATING THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF DOLLHOUSE The sci-fi series Dollhouse premiered on February 13th, 2009.

[causalityparadoxes]

Where's that post about it being good that 9 and Rose kissed because otherwise people would've been ridiculously obtuse about their relationship.

Thats just what its like being an irl twelveclara shipper. People truly have 0 brain cells to rub together regarding them, because they didn't mouth to mouth kiss on screen.

And I'm saying this as someone who loves the ambiguity of twelveclara and isn't a massive fan of the 9rose kiss. But alas when you are given ambiguity, people act stupid. So i can't help but wonder about the alternate timeline where 12 and Clara did have a snog

[wall-e-gorl]

"Oh I didn't kill you. God killed you. I just- made sure it took" <- most badass nate line in the whole show

[dr-futbol-blog]

The Gift, Pt. 3

Teyla discusses her dreams with Heightmeyer, and apparently they talk for quite a while. We get several scenes between them and because Teyla keeps having nightmares that confuse dream and reality, it is difficult to keep track of the actual timeline of the events. They do have several sessions, and they seem to have them at all hours of the day (and night). It's interesting that her 'gift' seems to be made into an allegory of homosexuality kind of like the X-Men in the 1990s (in how people fear and hate anything that is different):

Heightmeyer: Do many of your people have this ability? Teyla: Some. Among those few, some can sense the Wraith stronger than others. I have always been among the first to know they are coming. Heightmeyer: That makes you special. How does that make you feel? Teyla: I do not know. I suppose I have not given it much thought. Heightmeyer: Why not? Teyla: Why do some people have blue eyes and others brown?

Given that the motif of this episode is her attempting to deal with this thing that has made her different from her people from childhood onward, the fact that she is paralleled with McKay so hard in this particular episode is rather telling. Earlier, Teyla had a discussion with Beckett about this thing that has made her different being genetic in nature. In other words, she was born this way. They drive the point in further:

Heightmeyer: The truth is, people waste a lot of time trying to interpret their dreams. They're really just another way our brain thinks when we're asleep. There are no hidden meanings. In fact, we tend to forget most everything we dream about. Our conscious mind is capable of deciding what's most important to us. Teyla: Well, the fact that on some level I see myself as a Wraith is very disturbing to me. Heightmeyer: I think this special ability that you have, this talent for sensing the Wraith, connects you to them in your mind--maybe in a way you would like to deny. You said you hadn't really given it much thought in the past--I don't think that's true. Teyla: What am I supposed to do? I cannot change it. Heightmeyer: Probably not--but the unknown frightens us. We all like to feel in control, even though most of the time our power over most things is just an illusion. But I find the more we know about something, the more we can convince ourselves we are in control of it.

Encouraged by her conversation with Heightmeyer she decides to dig deeper into her past, visiting the mainland to speak with one of their elders. She learns some Athosian wraith lore and we then find her sitting in Weir's office, telling Weir and Sheppard about her discoveries.

Sheppard has apparently returned from the Alpha Site, and again we don't know when or what he has been doing in the meantime. Where Teyla and Weir are seated on the opposite sides of her desk, he is standing by the side of the door facing Teyla, arms folded, kind of behind Weir but twisted in a way that he actually manages to have his body (especially his pelvis) turned away from the both of them. All I'm saying is that it defies all laws of probability that this keeps happening by chance or accident. Acting choices are being made.

Given what we later learn about Sheppard's past later (both with regards to his father and what happened in Afghanistan), Sheppard has a curious reaction to the thought of people being sent away from their homes:

Teyla is sharing all of this with Weir because she feels that the leader of the expedition needs to know about this fascinating new information she has learned, and Sheppard is there as her superior. And to his credit, Sheppard is taking her side, being the supportive leader that he is clearly intending to be at this time. He does seem very concerned, listening to her. Not so much over the content of her story as the fact that she is so agitated over it. To him, he explicitly tells us in the following scene, this is about trying to help her put this behind her so that she can sleep, so that they all can sleep. It's not that she believes her or even cares if what she says is true, it's that he can see it's bothering her and figures this might help.

Sheppard still seems to be deferring to Weir's leadership, allowing her to call the shots even though this is becoming more and more a purely military matter. Here, he offers Weir only his advice while taking the side of his team member. He also only looks at Weir out of the corner of his eye, doesn't properly turn to look at her once. Further, he is starting to feel desperate enough that he is willing to grasp at any straws he can reach. He does not let it show because it doesn't help their situation at all but because he (just like McKay) realizes much better than most how much trouble they are in, he is really quite distressed. He is hanging on by a thread. The desperation is starting to creep in.

Teyla: I have the address to the planet where this happened. Charan says the village is long gone. All that is left are ruins but still, I wish to go there. Weir: Now? Teyla: I believe this must be coming to light now for a reason. Maybe we can find evidence of what really happened. Weir: Look, Teyla, there are a lot of things that we need to get done. Teyla: Maybe there is a way to fight the Wraith that we have yet to discover. Perhaps my ancestors were simply not enlightened enough to recognise their gift for what it was. Sheppard: Doesn't hurt to take a look around.

Now, Weir is absolutely correct in pointing out that they have so many better things to be doing right now. Sheppard has more important things to be doing, and he also takes McKay on this mission who definitely has more important things to be doing. The fact that Sheppard agrees to this when he is clearly expecting them to find nothing at all on the planet, basically a fool's quest, just tells us how important he finds it that Teyla gets some sleep. And Teyla getting some sleep is important to him because McKay getting some sleep is not only important to him personally, which it is, but is also important for the whole damn expedition. So he's willing to try pretty much anything at this point.

And so, the team find themselves on a nameless alien planet on a dark and stormy night.

We follow Ford who passes McKay, bent over looking at something and Sheppard is standing right behind him, seeming to be looking up at something. Definitely not looking at that behind. But he is, again, turned toward McKay, his eyes taking a tour by McKay as he turns to Ford. While Teyla and McKay appear to be looking around, Sheppard and Ford are just waiting for them to get done with it. In this, Teyla and McKay are again paralleled.

Ford doesn't see the point in being here any more than Weir did:

Ford: Sir, there's nothing here. Sheppard: I know. Ford: Well, it's dark. Shouldn't we be getting back? Sheppard: Give her a minute. Ford: Sir... Sheppard: Ford, I need her to put this behind her; get some sleep. We all do, so whatever it takes.

Make note how Sheppard draws Ford's attention to Teyla, gesturing at her to get Ford to look at her. And what does he do while he has Ford's attention on her? He looks back at McKay. His attention is so firmly on McKay that Ford actually has to to address him ('Sir?') to get him back to the conversation he thought they were having. Sheppard tells him that he needs Teyla to get this behind her (something Freudian perhaps in his choice of words given that McKay had his backside to him) but this scene, here, just tells us that while he is talking about Teyla, it is McKay that is Sheppard's first priority and actual source of concern. Yes, he likes looking at McKay at any and all times. But here, he isn't doing it just because that's where his eyes are drawn but because he is worried about the man. He is worried, and clearly distracted by his concern.

The thing is, Sheppard never expected to find anything on this planet or for these folk tales Teyla had heard among the Athosians to contribute anything to their coming stand against the wraith. His only motivation for bringing the entire team was to help Teyla put what ever is bothering her behind her so that she could get some sleep. He is so worried about her that he is willing to do "whatever it takes". They all need to get some sleep, he says. We haven't heard of Ford having any trouble getting rest, so it's doubtful the "all" here encompasses him. Members of the military have often developed strategies on getting sufficient rest even under battle field conditions so out of everyone on the expedition, they are the least likely to suffer lack of sleep at this time. Sheppard, of course, is among them and given that we have seen him sleep sitting on a chair previously, he probably is capable of sleeping under dire circumstances. But he says "we", counting himself among the people that needs to get some sleep. So what is the thing that's keeping him from getting sufficient sleep?

Sheppard's "we all" explicitly includes Teyla but it also very much seems to include McKay if only because Sheppard heard him complain about not having slept during the meeting. Likewise, we found McKay seeing Heightmeyer where Sheppard directed Teyla to speak with her about her trouble sleeping which allows for us to speculate that he might have done the same with McKay. And yes, McKay getting some sleep is important to everyone at this critical moment. But only a more intimate experience of McKay not sleeping well would explain Sheppard's own need to get some sleep. Crying ourselves to sleep is what McKay said. Trying to sleep next to someone that is having frequent nightmares would keep you from getting rest.

Sheppard can barely keep his eyes off of McKay for the duration of the explanation he gives Ford, returning to look at him on "what ever it takes". While they are on this planet for Teyla, Sheppard's concern is still mostly for McKay. His attention is mostly on McKay. His "what ever it takes" is clearly first and foremost for McKay. The way he looks at him here, brief though it is, is so loving that it leaves little room for doubt as to who Sheppard is really doing all of this for.

He doesn't let McKay see it, though, looking away as McKay turns and approaches him. He pretends to look up at the sky (again) for that short moment that McKay is facing him but as soon as he turns again, Sheppard returns his eyes on him. Then, he speaks his name either because McKay had just been not saying anything longer than he likes or because he noticed just from his body-language that McKay had discovered something (and Sheppard starts saying his name even before McKay raises his head so he is finely attuned to McKay's body-language):

Sheppard: Rodney? McKay: I've got something here. Ford: Really? McKay: I don't know...

McKay trails off, clearly trying to figure something out. It frustrates Sheppard when McKay doesn't use his words, when he doesn't explain things to him. He has such a need to share in his world. We see him trying to look over McKay's shoulder to see what he's looking at on his "magic Ancient device" and not for the last time. Then, we get another curious reference to their private life that is played out mainly through Sheppard's expressions:

McKay: I've got a little... Ford: You've got a little what? Hey, McKay, you've got a little what?! What? Oh, it's OK when you guys make fun of me!

I already discussed this scene in connection with The Brotherhood (S01E16). It shows us that Ford has misinterpreted Sheppard with regards to his attitude and general treatment of McKay.

There are several times that someone says something that kind of makes McKay the butt-end of a joke and we get a reaction shot from Ford. Often, it's Sheppard saying something to provoke a reaction out of McKay because he needs to have McKay's attention on himself pretty much all of the time (and because Ford looks up to his leader, it's only natural for him to want to emulate this behaviour), but it's not just Sheppard either. He finds it amusing when people poke fun at McKay, all mostly in good cheer.

Now, I don't think Ford dislikes McKay. They're just very different people and Ford does not seem to have enough life-experience to understand someone like McKay, to appreciate them as anything more than the magic science man. Back when they were playing the math game (Hot Zone (S01E12), Ford being made fun of mostly by Zelenka, he turns on him and says: "This is some sort of pay-back for guys like me beating up guys like you in high school, right?" He may or may not have actually done this when he was in a high school--he was clearly airing out his frustration when he said this--but there does seem to be some kind of a jock vs. nerd dynamic in his mind when it comes to the military and the science corps of the expedition. And he fully expects Sheppard to participate in this dynamic too, especially because the way he has interpreted things, Sheppard is constantly poking fun at McKay.

Only, Sheppard doesn't feel that way about scientists at all. We just heard him wax poetic in the defense of science in the meeting, expressing his belief that science can turn the tide of war. Science is what has put him into the sky and later into another whole damn galaxy so yes, he appreciates science and scientists even if he had no personal stake in them. And he very much does have a personal stake in one scientist in particular.

Here, Ford says "It's okay when you guys do it to me." But the thing is, we haven't really seen either of them make fun of Ford. In fact, Sheppard and McKay's interpersonal relationship is so insulated that it is difficult for anyone to interrupt their unending back-and-forth with each other. They don't pay attention to other people when they are around each other. And this is precisely the problem. It makes people around them feel like they are outsiders, like they're not a part of something. In fact, Ford referring to them as "you guys" just emphasizes the fact that even he thinks of the two of them forming a unit he is not a part of.

It seems obvious that Ford would like to be a part of their banter, would like to be on the inside. When he says "when you guys make fun of me" even though they don't really make fun of him, it's a kind of projection. He wishes they made fun of him with the same ease and affection that they do each other (even though making fun is not really what they have been doing with each other at all). He wants to be liked and respected by his superior and hence attempts to emulate what he thinks Sheppard so frequently does.

But as stated, Sheppard does not make fun of McKay. He teases McKay. His motivation has never been to belittle him in front of other people but to have his attention, to point out things he has noticed about McKay because he finds them endearing, to try to connect with him. People frequently misinterpret what Sheppard intends (an egregious example is the Superman incident in The Storm, S01E09; to Sheppard Rodney McKay is very much a hero) because, due to his inability to freely express his feelings, he often has to disguise genuine statements in layers sarcasm and flippancy. The more he cares about something the more he has to pretend like it is meaningless. He truly and honestly believes that his love is lethal so the more important something is to him the more has to project not caring like that would protect the object of his affection from the horrible fate he is inviting upon them. John Sheppard is messed up, is the thing. And not everyone can see through his façade--most people, in fact.

So, not only has it never been Sheppard's intention to make fun of McKay, we have seen, especially recently, that he is extremely protective of him. He cares about McKay a whole hell of a lot, regardless of how you interpret their relationship. Even in this very episode it is at least implied that McKay's inability to sleep plays a great part in motivating everything Sheppard does. Sheppard has killed actual people (including one innocent civilian) to protect McKay so suffice it to say that it's a pretty important thing to him. He was never going to join in on this with Ford. But more than that, Ford is making fun of McKay's manhood, his dick. It's crass, yes. It's against the bro-code. But it's also probably the worst possible topic to make fun of that you could pick with Sheppard. He can appreciate a good dick-pun but he has no sense of humour about that.

One, we are hinted multiple times over the seasons that McKay is well-endowed (and make note that even in this scene, he doesn't even notice the whole thing; he has so little complexes relating to his size that he's completely unfazed like the thought doesn't even occur to him that someone might be implying something like that) which is also something that Sheppard appreciates (again, whale dick, Echoes S03E12). Second, by this time Sheppard is not only well-acquainted with his dick, it is one of his favourite things. There's like a 50/50 chance that he's seen McKay's dick more recently than he has seen his own during this scene. Sheppard takes this personally, and he is well-within his rights in doing so. Ford would never have made a disparaging comment about Sheppard's own manhood because he looks up to him so much but it's entirely possible that would have been less offensive to him than that.

So anyway. In this scene, the fact that Sheppard is protective of Rodney McKay's dick is textualized. But because the dialogue is so fascinating, it's easy to miss the way Sheppard was looking at McKay just before he heard and/or got what Ford was saying. Again, with McKay having his back to him, he's so openly and nakedly looking at him. That man is so hopelessly in love with McKay, there is such yearning in his gaze. If we learned anything from the previous episode is that he knows now that he loves him but that he is afraid to speak its name. He knows that McKay can read things off of his face and it seems like this love is something that he doesn't want him to know about, doesn't want him to see. Because what if McKay looked at him the same way? What if he didn't look at him the same way? If he is turning into a teenage girl here it's only because he has never been in love like this before.

Sheppard just walks away from Ford without deigning him with an answer. And ford a second time, he calls Rodney by his name having again reverted to the thing where he communicates with him by only saying his name in different tones and expecting McKay to understand what he means by each iteration of his name.

Sheppard follows McKay and Teyla toward the rock face and, again, as McKay is turned away, he looks at him as he passes. He briefly feels up the solid rock wall, turns around and walks right back to McKay because apparently he really needs to be looking at what ever readings McKay has on his device like he could help figure them out. Or, you know. For some reason when ever he wants McKay to figure something out he needs to be up in his personal space, heads bent together real close.

Teyla seems to vanish inside a wall of solid rock, leaving the rest of them on the outside wondering what the hell just happened. Sheppard is worried about her since they seem to be unable to get to her. McKay tells him "Maybe she got a good running start--you know, really slam into it."

And while Sheppard looks really concerned as he turns back, this has even been described as a "black look" ("Sheppard gives McKay a black look") in many transcripts which, sure. But that's not the look he gives McKay, it's the look he has on him as he turns around. As soon as his mind registers what McKay actually said, he raises his brow like this isn't the time to be thinking about slamming into things. It's subtle, but he definitely caught the reference he thought McKay was making.

This seems similar to what happened back on the planet Dagan in The Brotherhood (S01E16) where McKay made an innocent comment that Sheppard interpreted as a double entendre. And here he is, leaning against a wall with his palms pressed against it and this man is talking about really slamming into it. We will see better examples of this in the future, McKay completely oblivious to how Sheppard hears what he says because his mind, no matter how dire the situation, is on sex. When McKay is around. The most hilarious example of this is in Lifeline (S04E02) when they are on the actual replicator homeworld, on the kind of mission where sex should really be the furthest thing from one's mind. And yet:

McKay: OK, let's jack it up, see how far we can penetrate. Sheppard: "Penetrate"? McKay: What?

Man. Buddy. Pal. Sheppard. Please get some chill.

So anyway, with Sheppard pushing his ass out toward McKay in a shot that is not suggestive of anything at all they stumble into an abandoned wraith lab, and the fabulous mystery deepens.

Continued in Pt. 4

[swan-orpheus]

Every time that Echo utters a snarky comeback to someone richly deserving, I append it in my head with ",bitch".

[danwhobrowses]

Well Critters it's Bells Hells Live Show Day! That snuck up on us quickly didn't it? Felt almost like a few weeks ago that they announced it!

Alas, being across the pond (also tomorrow's Father's Day in the UK) I will have to wait for the VOD, sitting here with my usual Thursday night doses of anticipation, imagination and anxiety, but I hope all that are attending have a great night. So much can happen, so much stuff I want to happen too but ofc some things are long shots - anyone who looks at my feed can tell what I want to happen let's be honest, and there'll be dress up and whatever beyond extra entrance Sam has planned to make his anticipated and grandiose return.

So sing the intro loud, tag your live spoilers just in case, do creepy whispers if Laudna performs a Sending, tell them to stop it if they sneeze, and most of all enjoy the show!

[abigfanofstarwars]

me the second that emotionally constipated toothpick came down the ramp in his old armor :

me 0.7 seconds later remembering Mayday:

& DONT GET ME FUCKING STARTED @ WHEN HE STARTED PICKING THE HELMETS OFF THE FLOOR THT SHIT HURTED

[ili-ote]

I was unreasonably excited to see Echo’s ears this episode. Like really excited.

I’m also highly distracted with concern over him being able to get his tbb armour back…

Feels like things are forever changing and I’m not sure I can handle it 😂 I just hope the enormous number of unravelled threads means a new show is gonna be announced. Hopefully on the 4th 🤞

And finally, what fun it was to see him messing about with that droid hand! He should magnetise it to his armour (you know where) so he can keep it … ahem … handy.

As for Omega telling Emerie about the Batch… my poor heart can’t take it!

[onlylove4louis]

So I was washing dishes, trying very hard to distance myself from ep 5 and this fandom, literally for my mental health. And just randomly, out of somewhere I refuse to look directly at, I hear: "Mon cher. Why are you ill... What has happened?"...

And I, just

The Loustat brain-worms, are eating the grey matter...